228 or 232?

[Tookish]

If trailering was not an issue. Need all weather Rosario Strait (san juan islands) crossing in reasonable comfort and 35-40kt cruise in benign conditions. Motor preference?
Used, of course

 

[luckydude]

Search the site, there is a guy here who has owned (some with his dad) 14 Gradys. I'm pretty sure he said the 232 was his favorite.

As for motors, newer is better. I think they are all pretty good but I'd put twin 200s on there, they get (slightly) better MPG over the 150s.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 228, but it is definitely a "pick your days" sled. If I could get a 232 down my mountain road, I'd own one (I can't, it doesn't fit, tiny one lane mountain road).

 

[Tookish]

Thanks for that. The extra fuel capacity and beam are Def pluses. What year and motor are on your 228?

 

[luckydude]

Thanks for that. The extra fuel capacity and beam are Def pluses. What year and motor are on your 228?

Umm, is my signature only visible to me?

 

[OceanSun]

Just circumnavigated San Juan island in my new-to-me 232 w/Twin 200's. This was on a shake-down, whale-hunt cruise with my wife and granddaughter. Hit some nice 3+ foot whitecaps on the outside and carved them up like thanksgiving turkey. Absolutely love this boat! Crab-walked it across a rip with even bigger standing waves to get into mosquito pass and the power and responsiveness combined with that hull were just awesome - total fingertip control of positioning on waves allowing me to provide a relatively smooth ride through water that would've previously been a white-knuckle bitch session from my wife. I've owned about a dozen offshore capable fishing boats in my life but this is the one I will run to and through retirement.

 

[Fishermanbb]

228 is a great boat without a doubt but no comparison to the 232. 232 all the way……

 

[Legend]

I have owned both and they were both great but the Gulfstream is a class ove the 228. Wide beam and fuel major upgrades. I had a Gulfstream with a single engine with an F225. I would not call it way underpowered, but under certain circumstances I could have used more than the 225. Twins are always a plus (budget permitting) with handling etc

 

[Tookish]

Just circumnavigated San Juan island in my new-to-me 232 w/Twin 200's. This was on a shake-down, whale-hunt cruise with my wife and granddaughter. Hit some nice 3+ foot whitecaps on the outside and carved them up like thanksgiving turkey. Absolutely love this boat! Crab-walked it across a rip with even bigger standing waves to get into mosquito pass and the power and responsiveness combined with that hull were just awesome - total fingertip control of positioning on waves allowing me to provide a relatively smooth ride through water that would've previously been a white-knuckle bitch session from my wife. I've owned about a dozen offshore capable fishing boats in my life but this is the one I will run to and through retirement.

Perfect! Congrats on finding the "perfect" boat. What kind of speed and fuel consumption are you getting with the twin 200's?

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I've got a summer beach cabin about 50-60 miles south of you on Whidbey Island in a little place called Maxwelton, of which I've got a 2004 GW 228 Seafarer with a single Yamaha F225 on it and she works just about perfect for me. My previous boat was a 21' Arima, which that boat was much too light, sat too low in the water and all of the weight was in the stern of the boat. So, you'd hit the 1'-2' chop and pound quite badly, as well as the windshield and side windows were too short so you'd get spray over the sides and front of the boat. It resulted in a very wet, uncomfortable ride and that's why after a few years of owning that boat, I sold it. During the time where I didn't have a boat, which was just over a year, I looked at a number of different Grady White's from 208 Adventures, 226/228 Seafarer's and even a 232 Gulfstream. I have a mooring buoy in front of our beach cabin and I didn't like the idea of the notched/motorwell style of transom on the 208 Adventure/226 Seafarer, so I crossed those off the list. I also didn't like the idea of them having the bang cap/plate because of all the issues that people have had on here with water intrusion. Then, I actually stepped foot on a 232 Gulfstream that was for sale at Jacobsen's Marine, who is the local GW dealer here in Edmonds, and realized that it was a much bigger boat than what I needed it for. The beam on the 228 Seafarer is 8' but the beam on a 232 Gulfstream is 9'3", which makes the boat obviously considerably wider and heavier, especially if you have one with twin motors on it. From what I hear, It also makes the boat a bit more difficult to trailer and I believe you're supposed to have a wide vehicle permit to tow the boat? Though, I'm not positive on that.

The 232 Gulfstream has the step on it, which I wasn't a fan of considering I have parents in their 70's and a niece that will be 8 in a couple of months. So, I wanted something that someone wouldn't be able to trip or slip on as easily, which the 228 Seafarer is an all level floor. As mentioned above with the notched transom, I also didn't want someone potentially falling out while sitting in the back and the idea of having a fully enclosed transom was a huge plus for me. I'm also not a fan of the bunk bed style of cabin that the 232 Gulfstream has as well. My 228 Seafarer will do everything that I need her to do, though in the south end of the Puget Sound here the waters are obviously a bit more protected. That being said, I've been out in 5-6' swells and had no issue with the boat at all, though as mentioned above you'll likely need to pick your days somewhat more. But she's a comfortable riding boat, that will keep you dry and your back/knees won't be on fire like you'd experience with the Arima. I again thought that the 232 Gulfstream was a much bigger boat than I'd ever need as I typically just troll for salmon, check crab pots and occasionally go out for a stroll. Both boats are going to be extremely versatile though, and I'm thinking you probably won't be able to go wrong with either. If you're ever down in this direction I could take you out on my 228 Seafarer, though the conditions are generally always pretty favorable, so I'm not sure if that would help at all. If you do go with a 232 Gulfstream, I think you'd be silly not to get one with twins. I've purchased my 3 boats back on the east coast because of the pricing and they're typically about half of what they sell for out here. I think if you did go with a 232 Gulfstream that twin 150's/200's would likely be the ticket. That being said, a 228 Seafarer with a single F225/250 will do 35 knots quite easily, should have at least a 92 gallon main fuel tank and some have the optional auxiliary tank putting you at close to 150 gallons total. Either way, good luck and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

[blynch]

Just bear in mind, 35-40kts is going to be more of a Wide Open Throttle speed in either boat most likely, and potentially on the lower end of that range in most configurations. You're probably limited to the 2x 200 config on the 232 or 250 on the 228 if that level of speed is a priority. Grady hulls tend to want to "cruise" at 30mph (i.e. cruising speed is 29.8mph on the Grady performance specs for the 2x 200hp 232).

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Just bear in mind, 35-40kts is going to be more of a Wide Open Throttle speed in either boat most likely, and potentially on the lower end of that range in most configurations. You're probably limited to the 2x 200 config on the 232 or 250 on the 228 if that level of speed is a priority. Grady hulls tend to want to "cruise" at 30mph (i.e. cruising speed is 29.8mph on the Grady performance specs for the 2x 200hp 232).

I would disagree in part, especially with regards to the year of the boat as the GW website says the top speed of a 232 Gulfstream with twin F150's on it is 48.4 mph and with twin F200's it is exactly 52 mph. Of which you should be able to do 35 knots at around 5k rpm, or even less. Also, the newer years of the 228 Seafarer had a maximum horsepower rating of 300 hp on them, which will put the boat at a WOT of almost 52 mph as well. I do agree though that most models have an optimum cruise of around 25-30 mph.

 

[luckydude]

On the speed stuff, Grady said my WOT with the 250 is 47 or 48mph, I've hit 45. Has to be pretty flat.

On fuel, my 2020 228 has a 114 gallon tank (I actually would prefer to have 2 tanks so I could keep the forward one full to put weight forward but not enough that I'm gonna rip my boat apart and change things out. Maybe in 10-20 years if I'm still here).

 

[Mustang65fbk]

A few things to mention... the 228 Seafarer has had several different changes over the years, one of the biggest being that there are going to be different sizes of fuel tanks as I mentioned up above. For example, my 2004 GW 228 Seafarer came standard with a 92 gallon fuel tank but had an option for a 55 gallon auxiliary fuel tank which will put you at 147 gallons total. It looks like the early 2010's vintages had around 125 gallons, yet didn't have an option for an auxiliary fuel tank, at least not from the 2011 brochure that I'm currently viewing. Also, on lucky's 2020 model it's a 114 gallon fuel tank, but it doesn't appear to have an optional auxiliary fuel tank either, though I suppose you could probably always add an aftermarket tank if you had the space to do so. Comparatively, a brand new 232 Gulfstream has a 141 gallon fuel tank and it doesn't look like you can get an optional tank for anything more than that. Which to me would negate the argument of wanting more fuel on board considering that my vintage of 228 Seafarer actually has slightly more fuel with the optional auxiliary tank. And, even the newer ones are between 16-27 gallons less than a brand new 232 Gulfstream, so again I definitely wouldn't discredit or exclude the 228 Seafarer as an option just because of fuel tank size. The same vintage, 2004, of GW 232 Gulfstream's did have a standard 148 gallon fuel tank and on dual engine models that weren't twin F200's you could get an optional auxiliary tank as well. Though it appears they sized down the main tank to 92 gallons and the auxiliary fuel tank was 90 gallons, putting you at 182 gallons total of fuel. Whether someone needs 182 gallons of fuel or not is a different story, and if they were a common optional feature, or one that can be found on any available boats for sale today is a different question though. I guess it would all depend on the OP's needs as well as his particular fishing/boating wishes. With regards to top speed, the performance bulletin for my boat says that she'll do 44.6 mph WOT and I've managed to get that once. The conditions were just about perfect and my boat had about a quarter of a tank of fuel onboard. I doubt most of the time you'll see numbers like that, though I'm not going for top speed and typically cruise around 25 mph or so while burning around 8 gph of fuel.

 

[OceanSun]

Perfect! Congrats on finding the "perfect" boat. What kind of speed and fuel consumption are you getting with the twin 200's?

Cruise at around 3900 / 30 mph / 2.5 mpg - WOT at 5900 / 50 mph - that was with topped up tanks 150 gal fuel / 20 gal water - It's bottom painted so makes sense to me that these numbers were just slightly off from other published numbers I've seen. The 200's at cruise is a bit better mileage than the 150's

 

[Salmon_Slayer]

sounds like you are after the 232, and if so i'd go twins!

 

[luckydude]

Cruise at around 3900 / 30 mph / 2.5 mpg - WOT at 5900 / 50 mph - that was with topped up tanks 150 gal fuel / 20 gal water - It's bottom painted so makes sense to me that these numbers were just slightly off from other published numbers I've seen. The 200's at cruise is a bit better mileage than the 150's

Those are great MPG numbers, that's better than my single 250 will do pushing the lighter 228 hull, I'm around 2.1-2.4 @ 30mph depending on how flat the ocean is. One more reason for the 232, I'm jealous.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I wish that I would've saved the performance data sheet from the Cannons Marine website as they've now taken it down for the 228 Seafarer with a single F250 on it, but I do have the numbers for my vintage of boat with an F225 on it below. Obviously a bit of an apples to oranges comparison with regards to the 232 Gulfstream being a considerably bigger boat with twin outboards on it. Still quite impressive though that the 232 Gulfstream only gets half a mile less per gallon than the smaller 228 Seafarer with a single outboard. I imagine that an F250/F300 should have slightly better numbers from GW in the mid range with regards performance, but OceanSun's numbers are still pretty impressive for a considerably bigger boat with twin outboards on it.

 

[luckydude]

I wish that I would've saved the performance data sheet from the Cannons Marine website as they've now taken it down for the 228 Seafarer with a single F250 on it, but I do have the numbers for my vintage of boat with an F225 on it below. Obviously a bit of an apples to oranges comparison with regards to the 232 Gulfstream being a considerably bigger boat with twin outboards on it. Still quite impressive though that the 232 Gulfstream only gets half a mile less per gallon than the smaller 228 Seafarer with a single outboard. I imagine that an F250/F300 should have slightly better numbers from GW in the mid range with regards performance, but OceanSun's numbers are still pretty impressive for a considerably bigger boat with twin outboards on it.

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Except those numbers are not apples to apples. Those are on a flat lake, with no gear, one dude, etc, etc. Grady claimed similar numbers for my 228 with a 250hp. Over the 2600 miles I've put on it, I average 2.2mpg. That's real world stuff and I'm pretty sure the 232 guy was quoting real world stuff, not some ideal conditions nonsence.

I went and looked, he said "Cruise at around 3900 / 30 mph / 2.5 mpg". If that's in normal Pacific slop, that's fantastic.

 

[OceanSun]

Those numbers were “inside” (Puget Sound) numbers which I fully expect to go down on the open ocean. That said better than I was expecting for such a heavy boat - I’m happy but still need to upgrade my fishing buddies to ones with fatter wallets {;>)

 

[Mustang65fbk]

Except those numbers are not apples to apples. Those are on a flat lake, with no gear, one dude, etc, etc. Grady claimed similar numbers for my 228 with a 250hp. Over the 2600 miles I've put on it, I average 2.2mpg. That's real world stuff and I'm pretty sure the 232 guy was quoting real world stuff, not some ideal conditions nonsence.

I went and looked, he said "Cruise at around 3900 / 30 mph / 2.5 mpg". If that's in normal Pacific slop, that's fantastic.

That's why I said it was "obviously a bit of an apples to oranges comparison"